9 Padmas blossom for Andhra Pradesh achievers

Hyderabad: Badminton coach P. Gopichand and the late Dr Anumolu Ramakrishna of L&T were awarded the prestigious Padma Bhushan on the eve of the 65th Republic Day.

The state also received seven Padma Shri awards, four of them for business and science: Dalit industrialist Ravi Kumar Narra, space scientist Dr M.Y. Satyanarayana Prasad, defence metallurgist Dr G. Sundararajan and Dr Sarbeswar Sahariah, vice-chairman at KIMS.

Among the Padma Vibushan winners were noted scientist R.A. Mashelkar and world-renowned yoga guru B.K.S. Iyengar. Cine star Kamal Haasan, author Ruskin Bond and the late former Chief Justice J.S. Verma, are among those being conferred Padma Bhushan. Tennis player Leander Paes, classical singer Begum Parveen Sultana and writer Anita Desai won Padma Bhushan.

Next: Awardees span wide range

Awardees span wide range

Hyderabad: The nation’s fourth highest civilian honour was awarded to Dr Rama Rao Anumolu for social work, Telugu fiction writer Prof. Kolakaluri Enoch and theatre personality Mohammad Ali Baig.

The nation’s fourth highest civilian honour was also awarded to Dr Rama Rao Anumolu for social work, Telugu fiction writer Prof. Kolakaluri Enoch and theatre personality Mohammad Ali Baig.
Dr Ramakrishna, who was selected for Padma Bhushan posthumously, was the former deputy managing director of L&T ECC division. He passed away in August.

His son, Dr A. Meher Prasad, professor at IIT- Madras, said, “We are proud of him and we feel honoured. This increases the stature of the award. He was a thorough professional who executed huge infrastructure projects across the country.”

Dr M.Y.S. Prasad, who was awarded the Padma Shri, took charge as director of the Satish Dhawan Space Centre, at Sriharikota,in January last year, after being associated with the Isro for more than three decades.

He was on the team that developed the country’s first launch vehicle, SLV 3, under former President Dr A.P.J. Abdul Kalam. Speaking to this newspaper, Dr Prasad, said, “It’s a great recognition for Isro and to Satish Dhawan Space Centre and for me in that order. It is not just for me, but for my whole team. I truly consider it a team work and this is definitely good recognition for the great work we have been carrying out.”

Padma Shri winner Dr G. Sundararajan has been director of International Advanced Research Centre for Powder Metallurgy and New Materials, Hyderabad, for 17 years. He joined the Defence Metallurgical Research Laboratory (DMRL) here in 1982.

“I really feel humbled and honored and it is a great recognition. I would like to accept the award on behalf of my whole laboratory. Most people don't know what we do here in our laboratory, but it is really extraordinary,” Dr Sundararajan said.

Dr Sarbeswar Sahariah (vice-chairman at Krishna Institute of Medical Sciences), performed the first renal transplant in 1981, and has completed 3,000 transplants since then. “This is a really great honour for me,” Dr Sahariah said of his Padma Shri. “It is almost the end of my career and it's a great relief to have been recognised at least now.”

He said organ transplant is an important field and more so cadaver transplant. “I am happy that awareness is going up and there has been lot of effort on this front in recent times,” said Dr Sahariah.

Ravi Kumar Narra is the South India Coordinator of the Dalit Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry and has been instrumental in pushing entrepreneurship among the backward classes. The DICCI is in the process of collecting corpus funds for venture capital for encouraging Dalit entrepreneurship.

“It is a great tribute for me, and for the first time a Dalit businessman is recognised by society,” Kumar said of the Padma Shri. “When such opportunities and recognition are given to the Scheduled Caste and Scheduled Tribe entrepreneurs, they can prove their talent and we are second to none. Most importantly for the growth of India, there is a need for SC/ST entrepreneur, ” said Kumar.

Mohammad Ali Baig, who began the Qadir Ali Baig Theatre Festival in the name of his late father, said, “The award is in a way the nation’s recognition of what my family has been doing since the last so many decades.”

It was moment of celebration at the home of noted Telugu fiction writer Kolakuri Enoch. “I am very excited and honoured to receive this prestigious Padma Shri award. Telugu literature is first part of my life, next comes my social activism.

I did not confine myself to one genre of literature as I do not believe in shrinking my focus to one area. I have equally contributed to different genres of literature including play, poetry, translation and criticism,” said Enoch.

Cricketer Yuvraj Singh and Anjum Chopra, cine stars Paresh Rawal and Vidya Balan, Odisha sand artist Sudarsan Pattnaik and fashion designer Wendell Rodricks were selected for the Padma Shri.